Tag: baseball

Who is the biggest surprise at this point in the 2017 MLB season? Is it the Minnesota Twins who are leading their division and have the third best record in the American League at 25 – 18. Or the Colorado Rockies who have the second best record in all of baseball?

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Every year Major League Baseball considers rule changes that are designed to tweak the game in one way or another to make it more appealing to the masses. This year however MLB is going too far.

Recently MLB announced that they will test a new rule in the minors that effects games that go in to extra innings. Their proposal, to start extra innings with a runner already on second base as reported by Yahoo Sports.

Major League Baseball already plays by different rules at different times of the season, but now they want to have different rules for different parts of the game? I am all for putting the best product on the field, but this is going way too far and is changing the way the game is played.

I respect Rob Manfred and the top guys in the MLB offices, but whoever came up with this idea should be ashamed of themselves. Any rule that changes how a game is played in the middle of a game is ridiculous and should never even be mentioned. You want to tweak the strike zone or the intentional walk, ok, as long as it is the same throughout the entire game and the entire season.

That’s my thoughts, what do you think about this proposed rule change?

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By Keith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia CommonsBy Keith Allison on Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia CommonsLast year at this time there were debates throughout fantasy baseball about who should be the number one overall pick in drafts. Many analysts were hell bent on anointing Bryce Harper to that first overall pick over Mike Trout. We saw what happened with Harper last season after his “breakout” season in 2015. Now the question is, who in the top ten will be the Harper of 2017?

For us one time on this list sticks out more than any other as a possible bust. Can you guess who? Nope your wrong, or maybe you were right, its Mookie Betts.

In his first two seasons Mookie averaged 12 home runs, 48 RBIs, 63 runs and a slash line of .291/.348/.471 over 197 games, yes a very small sample size. In 2016 Betts is more home runs than in the previous two years combined with 31, had 113 RBIs, 122 runs and a triple slash of .318/.363/.534 over 158 games, and even smaller sample size. So, which small sample size are we supposed to believe?

For me, if I am have the second overall pick in a draft I want to make sure I am getting a top player that has consistently performed that way and Betts is not that guy. Do I believe that he could be the number two overall player come end of the season, absolutely, but I am not willing to bet on it. I don’t want to be the guy that last year took Harper number one overall and kick myself for trusting one breakout season. Betts is deserving of a top ten pick, but not a top five.

By Houston Astros (https://twitter.com/astros) [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsAs the New Year kicks off it is time to start looking forward to the 2017 baseball season. I decide the best way to start is to look at the teams that are front runners for their respective divisions.

Today we are focusing on the Houston Astros. After two surprisingly good seasons the Astros likely come in to 2017 as the favorite to win the AL West. On paper they have one of the stoutest lineups in all of baseball with huge power from start to finish. On paper however is not where games are played.

Houston’s pitching staff is full of young live arms, but at times in 2016 they were inconsistent at best. Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers and Collin McHugh will be mainstays of the rotation with Joe Musgrove likely next in line. After that however it is yet to be seen who will follow. In baseball youth is a virtue, but with youth comes a certain unpredictability. Youth isn’t just found in the Astro’s pitching staff either, as their lineup will be one of the youngest in baseball as it was the last two years.

With young studs all over the infield and extra talent brought in this offseason it remains to be seen how the Astros will get everyone on the field. Players like Evan Gattis, Marwin Gonzalez, A.J. Reed and Tyler White will likely see extended time on the bench or in the minors due to the log jam of talent. With another year of solid defense and outstanding power out of guys like George Springer, Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman runs will come in bunches. Only downside to this offense is the amount of swing and miss that will be in the lineup.

Houston’s offensive prowess will carry them for this season and for the near term future, but will it be enough to overcome what was at times very shaky pitching is yet to be seen.

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Winter meetings are now over and on Wednesday there was a flurry of activity. When the dust settles who will be declared the winner of the week, easily the Chicago White Sox.
Over a two-day period, the Chicago White Sox traded away Chris Sale and Adam Eaton to the Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals respectively. Yes, the White Sox hurt their near term prospects of winning, but honestly they weren’t going to win anything anyways with the roster they had.

In all likelihood the White Sox and new general manager Rick Hahn is probably not done. Don’t be surprised to see Jose Quintana and/or David Robertson next on the list of players on their way out. With the team not in contention this year or likely next Quintana’s two-year contract would be an attractive piece to move. With Nate Jones waiting in the wings with his 0.892 WHIP in 2016 it would be easy for the club to part ways with current closer Robertson and get a good if not great return for him, especially in what has shown to be a hot closer market this off-season (Aroldis Chapman – 5-year $86 million and Mark Melancon – 4-year $62 million).

There are still moves to be made, but as of now my vote for off-season winner is firmly with the Chicago White Sox.